Where natural & manmade worlds meet.
“Wow, that’s the biggest I’ve ever seen in this area!” The excitement from 27 year old boat guide, Saul Alfredo, from Rio Lagartos Adventures was evident as a 3.5 metre adult male American wild crocodile surfaces from the wetlands with a tail length half its body size.
Rio Lagartos
My weeklong journey navigating the Yucatan, on a network of mostly well-kept roads, to explore the lush natural and man-made wonders of this spectacular region had begun. The Rio Lagartos UNESCO biosphere reserve is a protected habitat on the north shore of the Yucatan Peninsula, at the confluence of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It’s home to the largest flock of flamingos in Mexico. Cruising the waters in search of wildlife, my camera is at the ready, of course. To capture a group of Flamingos feeding in the shallow waters, my 70-200mm lens is my best option. It also worked for encounters with sea turtles, great egrets, frigate birds and black hawks.
Rio Lagartos biosphere reserve
Deep inside the natural mangroves we suddenly stumble across another huge crocodile cooling down from the mid-day sun. With no time to change lenses and risk missing the shot, I captured a few frames of its head, through the spidery roots as our guide edges the boat ever closer. But, to be honest, the shot was too cluttered to work well. The mangroves look spectacular from the sea, but it’s hard to get a perspective of its scaling estuaries from sea level. Time for the drone! As I take to the skies the aerial view opens up the serpent-like network of waterway working their way from land to sea.
Mangroves and snaking estuaries
Las Coloradas is a must-see attraction in Rio Lagartos. These pink salt flats get their vibrant colour from a type of algae that thrives in the highly saline water. It’s a dramatic landscape, perfect for exploring on an easily rentable bike. These pink lakes produce 850,000 tonnes of salt a year for the Mexican market. The cycling experience was a gentle adventure and other visitors exploring them gave me the opportunity to capture this pink world with a human perspective amongst the lakes.
The pink salt flats of Rio Lagartos
To the west, the wonderful town of Sisal in Yucatan is well worth a visit amongst the abundant nature. From here, another boat trip takes me to La Bocana and its hidden freshwater mangroves, surrounded by the ocean. My 68 year old guide, Graciano Hernandez, was the first person to discover the mangroves 30 years ago – no one better to take me through this spectacular place. We wove through the mangroves by boat to a natural pool with crystal clear waters. It was a fantastic experience to see these wonders of nature up close, completed by eating fresh cervice on a private beach. Just bliss.
Graciano Hernandez punting through the spectacular mangroves to the natural freshwater pool. Delicious tacos and fresh bread
Yucatan offers many experiences, both natural and cultural. After staying in the historic downtown of Valladolid, where I photographed the impressive Cathedral of San Gervacio overlooking the main square I took to the bike. Cycling inland through the jungle, the journey has a change of pace at the nearby Selva Maya, just 5 minutes up the road. A series of zip lines run from 3 towers of varying heights. Theses towers gave me 360 steps in total to climb. All this climbing in the striking heat, then launching from these lofty platforms, was a sweaty experience to say the least, but the solution was at hand. I cooled down with a refreshing drink of Chaya and lemon, ‘Mayan Tree Spinach’ made from the leaves of the Chaya plant, indigenous to the Yucatan peninsula.
Musing on how best to capture the excitement of all these active experiences, I decided this would best be achieved by documenting other visitors enjoying themselves. What better way to show both the challenge and the adventure. To do this I got ahead of a group, enjoying biking through the Mayan jungle. Then on the zip wires I held back on the tower ascents to show the scale of the climb, including people in the frame for perspective. From the top of the towers though, with a sheer drop, I was harnessed to ensure I didn’t fall whilst photographing the thrill of the descent.
Cycling and zip lining through the jungle. A refreshing glass of Chaya and lemon served by Marleni Puc
On trips like this, I travel light. Adventurous activities in hot climates can take it out of you so weight needs to be kept to a minimum, or at least as low as possible. I use a Canon mirrorless body and a trio of lenses for almost everything. For wide landscapes a 16-35mm lens does the job; for portraits and architecture, a 24-70mm lens and a 70-200mm lens, mainly for wildlife encounters. For those different perspectives, like the shots of the snake-like waterways of the freshwater mangroves, a mini drone provides this and weighs in at just 250 grams. All-in-all relatively lightweight camera kit offering lots of options for almost all circumstances.
One of the greatest gems of the Yucatan are the underground caves with crystal clear waters. These cenotes are sacred to the Mayan people, who used to believe the cenote is the connection to the underground and the door to the underworld. The Yucatan has more than 3,000 cenotes but only around 1200 of which can be visited by tourists. There are, however, many spectacular nature-made sinkholes to choose from. Whilst visiting Selva Maya, I took a dip in the Cenote Saamal, swimming with the friendly tirolesa fish. I’d pre-visualised shooting a cenote with its open top, colourful waters and natural greenery. This turned into reality during my visit. Surprisingly, the drone gave an interesting perspective too when shooting this cenote from above.
The spectacular Cenote Saamal, sacred to the Mayan people. Mayan warrior Balam practising a purification ritual of burning copal, an ancient Mayan tradition
Stumbling upon a Mayan warrior outside of the cenote, I asked to take Balam’s portrait as he practised an ancient tradition – burning Copal as a purification ritual which the Mayan believe cleans their souls. I wanted to capture the atmosphere of this experience and included the smoke in the frame to achieve this.
Mayan architecture are the masterpieces on the Yucatan landscape. Several days into the trip, I visited two of the best-preserved ancient ruins in the region, Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, both UNESCO World Heritage sites. To do this I used the colonial towns of Merida and Valladolid as a base.
The grandeur of Uxmal’s incredible architecture, lying just 50 miles south of Merida in the Puuc region, is dominated by the 40-metre-high pyramid of the Magician. According to legend, it was built overnight by a sorcerer, hatched from an egg laid by a Mayan witch. With places like this which are photographed so often, I challenged myself to capture this temple differently. I did this by shooting through the arches of another building and zooming in from a distance with my telephoto lens. Roaming the surrounding jungle paths, a chance encounter with an Iguana led to a few unexpected shots of the native wildlife too.
Climbing Kinich Kakmó pyramid. An Iguana rests in the shade at Uxmal
Chichén Itzá is a modern archaeological marvel and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, on a par with the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. This remarkable ancient Mayan city is a photographer’s paradise. Whilst Chichén Itzá offers endless opportunities to capture stunning images, I was limited by the traveller curse of not enough time here. Could you ever have enough time in a place like this? I had to be quick to capture the iconic structures. Too quick.
It’s one of the drawbacks of the tourist trail, with large groups visiting this magnificent monument. We all have a picture in our heads of places like this, from photographs and films, so I’d pre-visualised ‘the shot’ – the iconic shot of the giant El Castillo pyramid. Something different in a short time frame is tough though, but including a person in the frame at least gave scale, whilst a group and guide gave an alternative perspective.
Left: The striking Monumento a la Patria along the avenue Paseo de Montejo. Centre top: A guide explains the fascinating history of El Castillo and Chichen Itza. Centre bottom: Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal. Right: Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars
The time flew by and with the remaining 30 minutes I had left, I turned my attention and camera to the surrounding structures of the Observatory, the platform of the eagles and jaguars and the Temple of the Warriors. All must have shots, though not optimal ones in such a tight time frame and with the light available.
Whilst staying in Merida, I took a trip to the colonial town of Izamal, called the ‘Yellow City’. It’s named after its evenly painted buildings the colour of marigolds and is a must for any photographer. Joining a guided tour around the vivid yellow streets, is a good way to do a recce and make sure you don’t miss anything. You can then return on your own and with more time.
I took a breathtaking climb up the Kinich Kakmó pyramid, one of only 14 you can climb and Yucatan’s largest Pre-hispanic monument by volume, for an even more arresting view from the top before visiting the Convent de San Antonio de Padua, the most eye-catching monument in the centre.
Convent de San Antonio de Padua and the Yellow City
Walking the streets of Merida later, I took in the wonderful cathedral and photographed it, plus the picturesque Parque Hidalgo and the Monumento a la Patria along the avenue Paseo de Montejo.
What better way to round off my visit then a delicious traditional meal. My choice of table was at the local award-winning restaurant, Kinich. It was an experience with many delicious dishes and local flavours, accompanied by the incredible hospitality of the welcoming owner, Miriam Ascorra. She created the restaurant 31 years ago to celebrate Mayan food.
Returning to this paradise of natural and man-made wonders with more time, I’d be sure to re-visit the ancient sites of Uxmal and Chichén Itzá for longer, spending a day at each to capture them at their best. Exploring more cenotes would also be at the top of my wish list. You could easily spend a week here solely doing photography. That said, the experience made the trip for me as much as the camera, so I would be sure to sail on the Bacalar lagoon and seek out some of the spectacular beaches on my next visit for pure relaxation.
Find out more about Yucatan
See more of Jeremy’s work: Jeremy Flint Photography
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